Echoing
by TArot95
Summary: This is a One-shot I wanted to do about Pipit and (Female) Link growing up together and falling in love, if you like sappy romance stories then this is one of them, rated 'T' for safety.


Echoing

Thank You, Guest! Your review has warmed my heart! :3

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda

Warnings: _SAPPY and confusing author trying to put things together to make a cute story_ It's hardly game related and I just made a lot of stuff up it's been a while since I've played SKYWARD SWORD (Thank you to a dear friend who pointed that out) ^-^' Includes a tad bit of Zelgan :D

Begin:

It started whenever she had first entered the building built for some sort of daycare. Her hand grasped an elders as she looked around, eyes mirroring stares of curiosity and wonder.

Then, her eyes met his.

And that was the day he had utterly and helplessly fell in love with her. At first, he didn't understand for he was but a small child. He was curious as the rest of the children of this new stranger, but, he felt different as he felt a pull of something akin to gravity; a mysterious pull of wanting towards her, that he didn't yet know why it existed.

As he mulled this over, the other children greeted her with friendliness, yet she would only nod or say nothing, eying him from afar as she sat down to attend the class.

After the introductions were said and finished, she had rather sit or play by herself, as if too shy to even try to make friends. Of course, his younger self had decided to sit by her one day, and not really say anything, for she was like a little deer, skittish of anything, and he was like an observer, not wanting her to run away from him.

His curiosity of her and her patience for him had led to him always sitting or eating or even playing near her outside underneath an olden oak tree. She never spoke to him, and all she did was sit and read, so he figured she didn't mind him being there, for she was in her own little world. Some cases, however, she gave him the satisfaction of letting him know that she was indeed interested in one of his many childhood fantasies as she looked up at him from her book with wide, curious eyes, listening to how he was going to be a knight and slay dragons when he would grow up.

On bad days he would just lie in the grass and tell her what was bothering him, and she would just stare at him with wide, blue eyes, not saying a word as she listened to his pain, book in her lap. On good days, he will cheerfully greet her name and offer her some of his lunch, which at first, she was reluctant to accept, but with a bit of persuasion, she would take one of two of his sandwiches and eat it slowly.

It was always that way. She never spoke to him, yet, she did bring him lunch that which she helped an elder make, to which he happily accepted.

To the other children, they would ignore the two of them and play, except once or twice Groose would make a rude comment, but that was it. The two were left alone in their own world, while he talked and she listened, even going as far as nodding in agreement or once in a real great while, smile at his stupid jokes. How he loved her smile, and vowed himself he would make more of them.

It was a sweet childhood dream, it felt like, and then the both of them grew old enough to enroll in the Knight Academy. In irony, girls weren't really popular within the academy, but with the allowance from the Princess (and his silent hope), she was allowed, to both of their great joy.

At first, he was torn because he hardly ever saw her, but that was the first couple of months, when he discovered that she was just in another studying class than he. Thus it led to him making extra effort to see her during her small class breaks and bring her lunch and one of his big smiles. To his most utter delight, she had started to bring forth her own efforts such as repaying the lunch favors with her own cooking and small little smiles, to which he had grown to crave.

Then, a year later, they were in the training grounds. To his demise, the elders separated her from most of the boys, for she was growing into a woman, and others were getting to notice. Which said changes brought him so little time to even talk to her or bring her one of the cooked meals in which he had made, the only exceptions to which he could see her, was on training days. To his surprise whenever with little time he saw her on the battlements, she had shown such a fierceness in which rivaled the upper knights when she practiced onto the poor straw dummies. How skilled she was becoming, while he somewhat lagged behind in, however he had tried hard in his efforts.

He hated himself for it, for it felt like he was failing her, even if he was taking everything so seriously. However, despite of his self guilt, she would always offer him a ghost of a small smile, in which his heart swelled up so much, his grin had to shine through. He didn't know why, but he felt his own chest ache for her, reasons unknown.

What was it? He had often thought to himself. He knew he was missing her, even though he was the only one who really talked, he knew that their friendship was solid. It had to be. Of course, the feelings of just missing his friend didn't add up. She was more of a friend, but not in a sister way, and it felt too soon for him to want to court her...they were just young ones, he felt.

It must be that he wanted to be hers. However, he didn't know what to do with the information. He didn't want to court her because what about her feelings? She could very easily see him as a brother, and he refused for her to see him as a rejected lover instead of her friend anymore. So he held the feeling locked inside, thinking that it would fade over time.

How wrong was he.

The year after, to his utter delight, they were more of adults than children, and could share classes together. It seemed that the elders relented on keeping her separate from anybody, for she was very capable in taking care of herself. Which was shown when Groose had a broken hand and his minions each had a broken nose.

After a year of many talks, smiles, and shared lunches, she graduated to become an elite knight, while he was still on middle ground, trying to pass his hardships in order to _become_ elite. Of course, she went on a journey, an important one to which he was so worried for her, but knew that she could handle it. It was _her_ , after all.

The silent, fierce girl who showed a huge amount of courage and low tolerance for evil, was saving Hyrule's Princess from a terrible being. To which only he could do, was to train harder and try to become an elite just like her, so he could accompany her one day. As he progressed, Hyrule again was saved, to his relief, his precious friend was together in one piece, as long with the princess and the newly captured Ganondorf. Not that he cared about the former dark lord, but, oh well that's not the real point.

At the time when she arrived back to the order, two years had passed since she had graduated, and he had exerted himself to become an elite knight. As she walked into the school's halls, he was there to greet her.

Orbs which seemed to be forged out of ice, met amber, and before she knew it, she was wrapped around his embrace of longed affection, to which of her awkwardness, she was not above returning it as she placed both hands around his waist gently, returning the hug of her long-missed friend.

That day, was the day it began to return to normal for both of them in Hyrule. She took missions destroying this and that, he took jobs guarding here and there. The both of them returned to their usual warmth of friendship to one another, smiles, lunches, and hang-outs. Except of course, the locked up affection in which he had was now spearing into his heart as if trying to break free. She seemed to notice his pain, for she gave him worried looks now and then, not sure what he was hurting from, only to be reassured by him.

For she must never know.

If she did, he thought, it would be the end. She was beautiful, she always was. He was dressed and fashioned to mirror a lot of the other elites, not one being matched her loveliness (then again, she _was_ the only girl in the ranks). She was smart, courageous, and fiery, she had killed evil in the depths that no beings ever stepped foot in for a long time in centuries. He was only an elite knight pawn for the princess, to guard small places to keep brats out.

They were friends, and how they should be, would be always friends. He thought. She deserved somebody better than him, a high elite like her to battle evil creatures with. He had tried his part, yet he had succeeded at his best, which wasn't enough to help protect her.

One day, his heart seemed to snap. He couldn't take the wait any longer, yet, he refused to be no better than a mindless beast. He was going to offer her his love, be turned down. He seen how best friends tried to court one another, and when rejected, they weren't friends anymore. It was always an awkward, deafening silence between those two particular people.

He hated himself. He was so selfish, he thought. She was making so hard of an effort to protect Hyrule, and here was he, fawning over her and threatening their solid friendship with his locked down affections. However, his heart was breaking, and he was afraid that if he didn't at least tell her, his heart would leave him to be a ghost in an empty shell of flesh and bone. He would at least tell her, he owed their friendship that much, and she will be the one to decide if she wanted him or not.

He walked alongside the town. It was such a beautiful day. Maybe instead of confessing his love right out to her, he should offer her a day out with a picnic? It would take things onto a slow, steady pace, after all instead of just shouting some nonsense his heart was feeling. Besides he knew she liked his cooking, and he liked hers. He smiled fondly at the memory of how her blue eyes had lightened up with delight as she chewed her part of the meal he had prepared for them both. He was so confused on what to do, and it didn't help that his heart was aching.

However, one way, he had to let her know how he felt. He had to, his chest felt like his Loftwing, ready to burst into a flight, with or without him. His heart fluttered achingly when he saw her. She was wearing one of her many suits of an elite knight's attire. And damn, did she look ever so lovely. He sighed as he walked towards her, offering her a weak smile.

She smiled back, but frowned when she met his eyes. He knew that she saw right through him.

"Linkle," Her name lifted off of his tongue with a slight urgency. She tilted her head ever so slightly. Did she realize how cute she was? He thought to himself. He pushed the thought away.

He didn't know how to say it, so he took her hands into his, earning her further curiosity, however, her eyes seem to mirror his as she looked at their interlocked hands. His eyes bored into hers, and he knew that she knew what this pain was, for her eyes started to mirror his own with a silent, screaming want.

"Would you...like to accompany me?" He meant to say more, but the words were locked up. Why was this so hard? His stomach fluttered as she smiled, eyes lighting up with a happiness that he didn't recognized, but took it as a good sign.

It was like they were children again, except of course different. She leaned against the old oak tree, resting on the red-checkered blanket, of course holding a book, as he rested near her. He didn't know why, but his confidence seemed to burst within the peace between them. He started out with a few words, then it started tumbling down.

How he always admired her, he was proud of her, he had missed her. However, his fear seemed to diminish as he told her about his low confidence in being her equal. He knew he could trust her with himself. Her eyes bored into his as every word from him sunk into her. Had he not realized that she was feeling the same pain? He stopped talking when he heard a ripping sound.

"Linkle, your book-" He started, but stopped when he saw what she was doing. Grabbing a small feathery pen and some ink, she began writing down something. He was on edge. She had wrote to him, yes, but, on such rare occasions. She stopped writing as she handed him the paper. To his surprise, when his eyes met hers, it was full of annoyance, yet something else. He slowly reached out and took the paper from her.

He looked at it with awe. There was no book print on the page, it was a journal entry, which meant, she was planning on having a discussion with him, today.

 _I always valued you of my equal. Stupid._

It was so blunt, and he couldn't help but laugh, but with also relief. She valued him so much. Her eyebrow cocked up and he explained.

"Y-you never called me stupid before." He was in giggles. She was about to write down more, but he stopped her.

"Also," He was now calm, despite his red face. "I want to thank you, for caring about me. For waiting on me to become an elite. Linkle, I want to accompany you on your journeys." His amber eyes held her blue ones.

 _Stupid, I was waiting forever for you to join me on journeys. I can fight but...not all by myself._

He stared at her as he felt his heart pounding. "You...need me?" He asked softly.

 _No shit._

His heart felt as if it was to burst with utmost happiness.

Because of such feelings, he started laughing again.

"Oh my, such bluntness from a proper lady!" He said teasingly, to which she responded by hitting him with her book repeatedly until his laughter had resided into small giggles.

"Alright!" He said, huffing to recollect his breath. He stood up as he put a hand over his chest, and began talking again.

"I, Ser Pipit, shall always accompany my fellow Knight of Hyrule, Lady Linkle through thick and thin in order to vanquish the evil threats of Hyrule. How does that sound?" He chuckled. He was happy, and it was natural for him to be in such a bright mood because she wanted him to accompany her. She needed him. To his surprise, a shade of pink adorned her cheeks as she looked down and nodded.

She was ever so cute, he thought.

From that day, it was a major change to Hyrule. Begrudgingly, the former dark lord had made an alliance with Princess Zelda in order to benefit both his tribe and Hyrule...through the act of marriage. It was such a major twist, and nobody was really happy, but the way the former dark lord looked at the fair princess with some sort of admiration, told everybody that there was some change of character to the former king himself.

Linkle wasn't happy, but Pipit promised her that if Ganondorf had tried to do anything, Linkle herself had beaten him time and time again, and this wouldn't be any different, except she had him with her. As well of course the lovely fair princess herself had him wrapped around her finger, despite his protests.

It was scary because it was the dark lord, but, it was began to be slightly accepted because now it was the _former_ dark lord, as well as the new captain of the knights, in which nobody was really happy about, however, through tough training and words of praise from Ganondorf, they began to respect him and realize that he was actually putting an _effort_ into the Kingdom of Hyrule.

Of course the former dark lord would never admit that, and nobody pressured him in doing so. Either way, no matter how his change of character was excelling, he always found the icy death glare coming from nobody other than Linkle. He shuddered.

Onto the year, she and him had made journeys to recover lost relics in which that can benefit the kingdom. Their relationship had grew from full-out trust to full-out trust with a new closeness of those of a married couple, although it seemed they both didn't see it that way, but they were close. She would slaughter enemies with her sword, and he would snipe off the scatterers with his bow, and then compliment on how excellent the other was, although she would write it out.

To him, it was as if their relationship was echoing, but not in the negative way. When a person yells, it starts out as their voice, and it carries on, getting stronger and wider. That was how he had seen it in a weird sort of way. At first their relationship was new, and yet with each passing ripple of time, it carried on more strength and more width. When he told her about it, she blushed and wrote to him that he perhaps did have a point, but it was still kind of stupid.

After the year, it was time to celebrate, for their mission in retaining the relics was not only complete, but the marriage of Groose and that Peatrice girl was final. It was...an odd sort of pairing, but they were happy so who cared?

He was again lying there, looking into the night sky with his fellow warrior knight. First the Princess and Ganondorf, now Groose and Peatrice. He wondered about his and her own relationship. It was permanent, but neither of them had even made a move, yet. It was as if she was waiting, and she probably was, but not in cowardice, but for respect for him. He, however, was taking his time. It had to be the right moment. The right... _air_ , for him to release that long awaited scream, that would take them both to a far away place of solitude and happiness.

He was over thinking this echo thing too much, perhaps.

Yet, he was knew to this, too. He didn't want the two of them to fade so early as an echo does. He wanted it to be carried within the winds of time, he wanted it to be forever. Like all simpletons, he couldn't stop worrying about it.

However, he looked at her, he wasn't going to get there from here, just standing on the ledge and not knowing what to do. He had to take that final leap and hoped the wind would carry them both.

As he stood up, she looked at him with wonder as he walked towards her. She stayed still as he sat right beside her and looked at her. His amber eyes held determination as he looked at her.

"Linkle..." He began, keeping his eyes locked with hers. She stayed silent as he continued. He told her everything. How he felt when he first saw her, how she would make his heart swell. Everything he had told her, her eyes would shine some sort of relief, as if she was feeling the same pain. It was possible. His eyes never left hers, surprisingly, as he told her everything. He was sure that he was going to regret it, seeing how this silly confession may change things later, however, he didn't really care.

He wanted her to know how he had felt, and that he would not hide. She was his friend, his equal, he shouldn't feel ashamed to hide from her, as she shouldn't him. It was that way.

Blue softened when he finished.

"-So, that's how I feel. I love you, Linkle." He didn't sound desperate, he sounded relieved, because his Loftwing of a heart had lifted, and he wasn't sure where he stood or flew now. However, it was over. His pain, the waiting...he knew her well enough that they wouldn't be awkward as friends after that. He would catch her if she fell, no matter how she felt towards him, always. As well as he knew that she wasn't the type of being to ever leave her friends hanged out to dry, no matter what.

So he broke eye contact, and rested near her while she let every word and information sink into her head. He wasn't worried like he usually was, because he trusted her, and vice versa.

After a few minutes, he heard her move towards him. As he looked at her, his heart thundered as he saw her usual ice eyes, now resembled of a soft, flowery pond in spring. Before he got any word in, she leaned in and planted her lips on his.

It was sudden and awkward, but, it was soft and sweet for both of the inexperienced new lovers. It was as if all the magic he had dealt with in the past, suddenly moved in motion between the two in an air of soft elegance and passion. As they broke apart, he felt drool on his lip and her slightly panting, he felt more giddy than _any_ elite experienced knight should, and let it out in a huge smile he gave to her, to his own happiness, she offered a slightly bigger one than her usual ghost ones.

He knew that she didn't need any book or pen to get her point across.

 _I love you, too_ , was etched into her eyes. He didn't know what to really feel as relief, happiness, and butterflies weaved it's way into every fiber into his being. So he smiled instead, bright eyes looking into her equally bright ones, both shimmering their liquid emotions. They had caught each other when they both fell.

That was the night, the both of them flew into the waves of many echoes of past, present, and into the future of the strange yet happy feelings of their love.

XOXOXOX

I'M SO SAPPY! GAH! I hope those who read this had/has enjoyed this story, no matter how confusing and sappy it is (I'm so sorry)! Feel free to leave reviews :D


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